Conservation Principle: First Principles Of Scientific Weight Loss

Hello, welcome to “Science of Weight Loss.” I’m Jessica.

In the last article, we figured out the most important goal of scientific weight loss. It is reasonable to say that with a goal, there is a direction. The next step is to practice various weight loss methods in the right direction.

But what about the reality? All kinds of weight loss methods are flooding the media platform. Some of them are cloaked in science, and some are topped with effective results. Some are from a certain international research institution, and all methods boast of being healthy and effective. How to judge? Who to choose and who not to choose?

At this point, we need a basic theory to help us identify the authenticity of all weight loss methods. Does such a theory exist? The answer is yes. It is the law of conservation of energy.

The conservation of energy is the first principle of scientific weight loss. All scientific methods of weight loss are built on this theory. Understand this, and you will understand the underlying laws of scientific weight loss.

Losing weight is all about creating an energy gap.

When it comes to the conservation of energy, you are certainly no stranger to it. It means that energy neither arises nor disappears out of thin air and that the total energy of a system can only change by an amount equal to the difference between the incoming and outgoing energy. This is one of the fundamental laws of nature. Basic, meaning that it applies not only to the physical world but also applies to the life sciences.

Our human body, in fact, is a system of energy conservation.

To facilitate understanding, you can imagine the human body as a large tank of water. The tank has three incoming taps on top and five outgoing taps below. The water in the tank is like the energy stored in the human body.

Specifically, the three incoming taps, the body’s access to energy, they can only come from food carbohydrates, proteins, and fats, collectively known as “macronutrients” in medicine. Once these foods are eaten, they will be identified as energy, and after being absorbed in a certain proportion, they are transformed through decomposition to supply the body with. And five water taps are the body’s five channels of energy consumption, including daily metabolism, exercise consumption, and so on.

In short, a large tank of water, a bunch of taps, while there is water flowing in, while there is water out. So, we can imagine – the ideal state, of course, is the inflow of water into the tank and the outflow of water to match so that the tank’s water level is always maintained in a reasonable range and the human body weight remains stable. But if the water intake is particularly large, and the drainage is particularly small, the water in the tank will be more and more water. In other words, if you eat extraordinarily much and consume extraordinarily little every day, the remaining energy will be stored in the human body, and people will of course, become heavier and heavier. So, there is no other reason to be fat, and it is too much surplus energy.

Well, now it is not too fat to lose weight? It’s like saying that there is too much water in the tank, and you have to lower the water level; what should you do?

You can surely think of it, of course, is to create an energy gap out between intake and consumption. So either let in less water or let out more water; slowly, the water level went down, and people are thin.

Direction 1: Increase water output and energy consumption

Whether these two methods are feasible? Let’s take a look.

First of all, the first method – is so that the outflow of water to become more, that is, to increase energy consumption. Just said, in the human water tank model, there are five taps of water, let’s look at one by one.

The first is the basal metabolism, that is, even if you do not move, the body will consume energy to maintain normal operation. This is the largest tap, and it is much more than the energy you consume daily with exercise. But unfortunately, it’s hard for us to turn it up.

Everyone’s basal metabolic rate is different, and it is related to our age, gender, height, body temperature, genetics, weight, and body fat percentage. In this, age, gender, height, body temperature, and genes are all quantitative and cannot be changed. Therefore, only weight and body fat percentage are controllable by us.

But the problem is that weight and basal metabolic rate are positively correlated, and to increase basal metabolic rate, you have to increase your weight. Obviously, this is the opposite of weight loss and does not work.

Of course, if you go to the gym, the fitness instructor will tell you that “building muscle reduces body fat percentage and increases basal metabolic rate.” Is that really true? We can convert: the human body for each kilogram of muscle, but the consumption of 13 more calories, that is, half a cookie or a few mouthfuls of milk tea thing. But in order to increase a kilogram of muscle, at least two or three months of wild practice too uneconomical, so give up it.

The second tap that comes out of the water is the calories consumed by the body to digest and absorb food. Unfortunately, this is also open big deal.

Because this consumption is related to the amount of food eaten, the more you eat, the greater the consumption. If you wSo want to rely on it to lose weight, you have to eat more things, which also deviated from the weight loss goal.

The third out of the tap is the body to maintain body temperature and consumption of energy. The answer is also not.

Indeed, because of the temperature difference in the environment, we need to consume energy to maintain a constant body temperature. When it’s cold, the body needs to produce heat to warm up; when it’s hot, it needs to cool down by sweating. Heat production and sweating are both energy-consuming. But the question is, how do we use this? We can not always freeze in the snow or hold a fireplace in the summer, right? So you see, this also does not work.

The fourth faucet that comes out of the water is related to the reduction of sleep.

Studies have found that when not sleeping, the body’s metabolism does increase. That is, reduced sleep increases energy expenditure.

But at the same time, staying up late can make a person’s sympathetic nerves over-activated, increasing the secretion of a series of hormones related to appetite, allowing people to eat more. So on the list of reasons for increased eating, staying up late can be ranked in the top three. Moreover, the body’s activity of breaking down fat needs to be carried out at the time when insulin concentration is at its lowest, that is, at night. In other words, staying up all night without sleep, your body can’t even break down fat.

So, trying to lose weight by reducing sleep is also impossible.

Looking around, the last faucet left out of the water is exercise and daily physical activity. This one is really the one and only one that we can control. We can be more active, exercise more, and turn this tap up to increase consumption.

At this point, we can briefly summarize.

If we want to increase energy consumption to lose weight, what to increase basal metabolic rate, and sleep less doesn’t work, our best chance is to work on exercise and daily physical activity.

Direction two: reduce the amount of water intake, reduce energy intake

After talking about increasing consumption, let’s change the direction – can we make the water flow into the tank less, that is, by reducing energy intake to lose weight?

As mentioned earlier, in nature, only carbohydrates, fats, and proteins can be used as the body’s energy source. So let’s take a look at the three taps one by one to see if they can move.

The first tap to say the first water intake is carbohydrates. We eat staple foods, grains, and cereals, as well as snacks made of them, all belong to carbohydrates. This we all know. But what you may not know is that all kinds of fruits and vegetables also contain different components of carbohydrates.

When it comes to carbohydrates, it can be said that people love and hate them at the same time –

Say love because it is our primary source of daily energy and the only source of energy supply for our brain. Each gram of carbohydrate contains 4 calories. Moreover, there is a category of carbohydrates that cannot be absorbed by the body, that is, fiber. It is found in the various fruits and vegetables we eat. Fiber not only does not convert into any energy but also reduces the body’s absorption of sugar and fat, which can be said to be a weight loss tool.

And it is said to be hated because most of the carbohydrates are absorbed by the body, and the absorption conversion rate is about 70%. When it is in excess in the human body, it is very easy to convert into fat storage. Especially for us Chinese, this problem is more prominent. Now many people, in order to lose weight, completely do not eat meat, almost cut off all the fat, but still fat, may be the main staple food to eat too much.

So want to lose weight, completely do not eat carbohydrates, can not eat too much also can not. So what we can do is two.

First, eat fewer staple foods as appropriate to turn down this tap of carbohydrates; second, eat more vegetables to replenish non-absorbable carbohydrates, also known as fiber.

The second tap of water intake, fat?

As the second largest source of energy in the body, each gram of fat carries 9 calories of energy, which is more than twice as much as each gram of sugar or protein and can be said to be an energy bomb. Moreover, the absorption conversion rate of fat is the highest, which can reach 96%. So don’t take any chances, once eaten, as long as not consumed, basically will be stored. Even if the absorption is easy, the key fat consumption is also particularly difficult. Only after the body’s sugar is consumed the body will use fat.

Therefore, the metabolic characteristics of fat is “fast in and slow out,” the most suitable for energy accumulation, is the most positive enemy of our weight loss road. Therefore, if you want to lose weight, you should strictly control the total intake of fat and turn off this tap to a very small amount.

Last but not least is protein.

Each gram of protein also provides 4 calories of energy, the same as carbohydrates. But protein can be so useful. It is the most important substance to maintain the growth and repair of cellular tissue, so our bodies generally do not use protein as an energy store but as a tool to use. We need protein to grow muscle and to burn fat; we need protein to be involved.

So even during weight loss, the protein tap should not only not be turned off but also be supplemented with more, 1-1.5g of protein per kg of body weight per day.

Here, we find out.

By reducing energy intake, that is, eating fewer carbohydrates, strictly control the intake of fat, and properly supplemented with protein, can indeed help us reduce water intake and ultimately achieve weight loss.

Of course, here you first understand the general logic on the line, as for the specific how to eat, we will talk in detail later.